v-max limp fingers

i just bought a v-max and i was excited to see how fast this puppy could go, but to no suprise it really wasnt. it has the spinning capability to shoot paintballs out of its self, but it chokes. i think if it had stronger fingers in the hopper it would work amazing! its more like a whiskey dick: you want to do the job, but you just cant. is there any way or anything to fix this problem. i feel like getting some big electric wire that could fit on them, and glue them on. i feel like that might work. any opinions or ideas??

The soft paddles are a necessity because the loader has no clutch or spring system. Using hard paddles will cause paint breakage in the breech and also put too much strain on the motor's gears. In my experience(and I have a good deal of it with V-Max hoppers) they can consistently pull 15bps when operating correctly. If they can't exceed 10, send myself or one of the Valken guys a PM.

I will just drop my $.02 in, I sent my Vmax to Valken TWICE when it wouldn't break 10 bps and both times it was sent back to me still not exceeding 10 bps. So I would talk to Tempted, not the Valken guys, they in my experience don't know how to repair their own equipment.

I will just drop my $.02 in, I sent my Vmax to Valken TWICE when it wouldn't break 10 bps and both times it was sent back to me still not exceeding 10 bps. So I would talk to Tempted, not the Valken guys, they in my experience don't know how to repair their own equipment.

Its amazing how it hits 15-18 on all equipment I use here (SL74, SL91, Ego 11, SW-1) and NOTHING you own can get it above 10.

If you are having problems with feed rate, the cause is a faulty gear in the motor. For a while Valken was keeping in touch with me as I have found and repaired the issue now many times. However, lately, there has been no more contact. I was asked to create videos and tutorials on how to repair them, which I willingly did free of charge, and was told they would be sending me some hoppers to repair and send back so they had the repair on hand and could verify the issues. That never happened and I've been ignored for the last few weeks so I'm no longer going to hide the fact that the problem is a manufacturing defect.

The motors are extremely cheap gear motors. The hole that the main drive gear dowel pin sits in was not drilled correctly and it allows tons of play. When pressure is applied, the gears push apart and skip teeth causing very slow feed rates. After a short period of time the cheap gears will completely strip leaving you with a useless motor and a slower than gravity feed rate. Unfortunately Valken have been replacing them with new defective motors so you will more than likely have the same issue over and over. I've been a fan of theirs for a long time but the customer service and communication is, at the current time, horrible. I was doing them a favor, one that they asked for, and they are still ignoring me so I shudder at the thought of what they are doing for customers with problems.

Its amazing how it hits 15-18 on all equipment I use here (SL74, SL91, Ego 11, SW-1) and NOTHING you own can get it above 10.

Its amazing how you rag a customer who was sent a faulty product twice. I've posted video proof of the snail speed feed rates numerous times with numerous different V-Max hoppers. This isn't an isolated case and it isn't being fixed by you. Its incredible that I get these things shipped to me every week for repair because you can't seem to fix a 30 cent problem. I almost feel bad for charging these people because they have a brand new hopper, under warranty, that isn't being repaired by the manufacturer so they have to send them to an outside source and pay for it. Your customer service skills suck and you're going to say that the customer is the problem? Give me a break.

So what can I do about the fact that mine still won't feed over 10 bps on marker even after sending it to you and getting back with "everything working correctly"?

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Originally Posted by cfl mike

Yea I still have the battery drain problem, and my loader will feed like 16 BPS, so obviously not getting near the advertised 30 BPS.

Originally Posted by tlmiller
So what can I do about the fact that mine still won't feed over 10 bps on marker even after sending it to you and getting back with "everything working correctly"?

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Originally Posted by jrob530

I had the EXACT same thing happen to me, I was really excited about getting this loader and Valken let me down.

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Originally Posted by p8ntballinsbest#2

Ok so how come it seems like I have problems with it feeding when I shoot off break?

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Originally Posted by DevilDog336

I just sent mine back to Valken. I'm all about it. Its light, balanced, never jams, and has a low profile. Good concept, just can't feed what I need it too, or constantly for that matter. I hope Valken sends me something back that makes this happen.

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Originally Posted by LubeBunny

when they can make this loader feed good. il buy one again. the 2 i hat whas nohting but trubble.. burned the motor on the one.. the other just stopped.

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Originally Posted by connormccron

The V-Max from what I have experienced, jams a lot, loud and is not as fool proof as I would like it to be. `

{Sign of things to come}

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Originally Posted by ValkenWinter

Alright kids....

Any questions of problems pertaining to the V-Max loader can be taken care of here:

Issues with feed rates, lids, ect. Drop a note, Ill get to you as soon as I can...In order they come in!!

Winter

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Originally Posted by Bigfatts

Is it possible to get the upgrade parts by mail without sending the hopper in? Mine is having speed issues but I can't afford to be without it as it's my only loader.

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Originally Posted by PaintballLegion158

the V max feeds to slow!!

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Originally Posted by Malitov

E-mailed you my personal info winter. I'm having speed and consistency issues with mine. This is the second V-max I've had. The first loader wouldn't spin the prop even though you could hear the motor spinning. This one just doesn't go fast and won't feed more than five or six balls unless I shake the loader. I'm really starting to regret spending my money on this.

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Originally Posted by Team Eddie

i got one too same thing, these are not worth purchasing

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Originally Posted by Mestupmidget

check the other thread here, a lot of people are having speed problems with their vmax

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Originally Posted by Cash Money Allstar

I wouldn't call it a speed problem...the hopper can't even handle feeding a full hopper without stopping...I mean, I haven't been able to get mine to feed more than 10-20 rounds before stopping completely and me having to hit the prime button to get it going...then another 10-20 before it stops.

Also, I would say 9 out of 10 times, when I put paint in the hopper it does not trip the sensor, and I have to prime it to get it to start feeding.

Winter if you wanna go toe to toe, I'm more than happy to break out my DVOM, camera and a line of high ROF markers to test the V-Max against all the other hoppers available. I kept my mouth shut because you guys asked me to but you took it too far. I did everything I could to help you, and was doing it all for free. All your customers wanted was a working product. I have about two dozen happy customers from your hoppers that I had to fix and if you want I can post our conversations publicly. I can even post the conversations I've had with your company publicly, and I know you don't want that.

The only thing I'm asking of you is to treat you customers with a little more respect and recognize that there is a problem.

From my experience, its about a 50/50 chance you will get a good one. But I'll tell ya, once its working right its an amazing piece for a good price. I just set one up with a modified servo saver that keeps spring tension on the ball stack giving you much better reaction off break.

The problems with the Vmax, as you have stated, are and have been being addressed. We are retooling the gearboxes and reworking the motor and other upgrades and when ready, would have them out to the players.

You aren't retooling anything. Valken did not design or build the motor. They were outsourced and the motors you chose were the cheapest you could get. 90% of all std size gear motors have a brass bushing in the top and a bearing on the output shaft. This stabilizes the shaft and eliminated binding caused by too much friction. Your motors have no bushings or bearing, they are simply plastic on plastic and that is one of the huge problems. When I repair these things I have to re-drill the dowel pin hole and replace it with a thicker, longer piece. I also add bushings to the case top to increase stability.

Manufacturing flaws are just part of it when you are outsourcing to China. Everyone does it, and sometimes the molds are not correct. But do me a favor and please don't try to lie to me. I'd think that by now that you realize I'm a little more fluent than most in this subject.

For anyone else who has this issue, if you have an Eggy hopper the gears are a direct fit. The Eggy also has bushings, bearings and better quality gears. Simply remove the main drive, idler and output gears and replace them with the Eggy parts. You can not use an Eggy motor, the V-Max needs a low profile case. You can use a Ricochet motor and it too is better built. The one problem with the Ricochet motor is that the can itself is a higher KV so it will spin faster than it was intended to. I don't know how long it will last running at this voltage. Most hoppers put out 3-5v to the motor. The V-Max puts out 10+ volts.

Also, if you are like me and have radio operated toys laying around, you can use the gears out of them. They must be super high speed and you may need to clip the stopcock in order to achieve continuous rotation. Most of the time these gears are either high strength composite or metal, they will be far more robust than you will ever need. If you want do it the best, strongest way possible you will need to convert a servo motor into a continuous gear motor, and also cut the housing down to size. To do this you need to remove the control board from the motor and directly solder a set of leads to the can. If the output gear has a stopcock on it, you'll need to cut it off. This will give you the strongest, fastest set-up possible and won't cost you anything(if you have the servo). I've got about 100 old servos with bad boards, motors, cases and gears so I just pull out what I can salvage and toss the rest.